San Diego Community College District Spent $71,000 on 68 Signs Telling ICE to Keep Out

The four-college San Diego Community College District spent $71,000 on 68 signs telling federal immigration agents to keep off its campuses - including San Diego City College in downtown - an outlay that even Chancellor Gregory Smith says may do little to actually stop ICE.

District spokesperson Jack Beresford told CalMatters that the $71,000 figure covers the signs plus the labor to install them. The signs state that district property "may not be used for civil immigration enforcement staging areas, processing locations, or operations bases."

The taxpayer-funded district also adopted a new policy requiring any entity, including law enforcement, to obtain prior approval before conducting "official business" on campus.

Smith described the effort as a deterrent rather than a guarantee. "It's kind of our district putting every effort that we can think of, and hopefully it is a deterrent," he told CalMatters. "We don't let a bank just come and set up a booth."

But the chancellor acknowledged its limits. "By the time I know that they're here and get down there to tell them they're not allowed to be here, they're going to be gone," Smith said. He said the district hopes the rule establishes "a legal argument that it's an illegal seizure," and that the policy has never been tested in court.

Why the signs went up

The spending followed an incident last month in which, according to the district's statement, ICE agents arrested a student on a public street cutting through the urban City College campus and then chased another student up the steps of the school's Arts and Humanities building. The agents stopped once they recognized they were entering a college campus and left.

The district said City College and the SDCCD "do not participate in, assist with, or coordinate ICE enforcement activities," which it described as required under California Government Code section 7284 and Education Code section 66093, and as longstanding policy since 2019.

Limited legal reach

Under state law, federal agents must present a warrant before entering a "nonpublic" area of a school, such as a classroom or office building. Parking lots, quads and many other outdoor spaces remain public, and college officials told CalMatters the signs and policies may not prevent agents from entering those areas.